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Vodafone Hutchison Australia has formally signed a deal to trial fixed-line services on the $35.9 billion national broadband network, according to its chief executive Nigel Dews.

The agreement comes after months of legal and technical wrangling between VHA and NBN Co, which delayed its participation in the first five mainland Australian trial NBN sites.

“I am pleased to announce that we have signed an agreement ... to participate in the first residential fixed line trial of the NBN, which will take place in Armidale in Northern NSW in the coming months,” he told the company’s annual general meeting.

“We will also work with NBN Co to develop products and test the complementary nature of high-speed fibre as an interconnection point to support mobile transmission or base station access.”

In April, NBN Co head of product development Jim Hassell said VHA was not one of the 12 initial participating ISPs because an agreement had not been hammered out before the launch.

“We’re still trying to work through some issues,” he said at the time. “They have to commit quite a deal of resources in time, energy and effort to do it on top of signing a contract.”

The trial is a landmark moment for the telco, which traditionally focuses on wireless mobile networks. If successful, it could see VHA enter a fixed-line internet market currently dominated by Telstra and Optus.